A recent rezoning led to high economic hopes for downtown Brooklyn. But a more recent economic downturn seems to have undermined those expectations. Indeed, some growth has occurred, but success depends on whom you ask.
"City Point, a massive mixed-use building that was supposed to rise on the site of the Albee Square Mall after developer Joe Sitt razed the structure and sold the land at a tidy profit post-rezoning, for now exists only as a tiny retail space going up at the corner of DeKalb and Fulton. Like much of the rest of the neighborhood, the former mall is ringed by construction fencing, dressed up in a brightly colored strip of canvas dubbed a 'Breathing Wall.' More construction phases are supposed to follow, and though there's no set date for construction to begin, $20 million in federal stimulus funding is in place - obtained with the help of Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz, whose charities it was recently revealed received $300,000 in donations from City Point's developers."
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